Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Energy: Our Gift to the Environment

The environment is under attack. Toxins are leached into our planet’s atmosphere as well as poisoning food and water supplies daily. For years now humans have been in a scramble to keep any unadulterated piece of Earth they can. The problem is, we are fighting against processes that we set forth, and with no means of control. You see, humans have opened a Pandora’s box in the form of nuclear energy, and now our ecosystem is paying the price. Radioactivity, according to David Harvey’s book ‘No Place to Hide’, is cause for many types of cell tissue damage (“Appendix”, p. 68 [R]). In the film “Radio Bikini” we are introduced to a man whose whole body slowly mutated into deformed limbs due to radioactive exposure. Furthermore, the introduction of Radium 226 into farming ecosystems not only destroys land, but also potable water sources that both animals and humans alike depend on for survival (“Fracking Hell: the Untold Story”, 2011). Such destruction is mainly the result of four human-propelled mechanisms: military, ideology, capitalism (economic), and knowledge. Throughout the years nuclear technologies have coupled with these four mechanism to further environmental and, subsequently, social crises.

Militarism is deeply rooted in the processes behind our current environmental dilemmas. Historically, militarism has been used as both a justification for the progression of environmentally destructive technology as well as the means for the advance of said technology. For example, the rise of nuclear weapons both came with an excuse of “need for safety” as well as through the actual force of US hegemonic influence. This claim is best illustrated by the nuclear tests of Operation Crossroads in the mid 1940s (Bradley, 1948; Firth, 1987) and Operation Bravo in the 1950s (Firth, 1987). The backdrop of these tests lies in the post WWII era, leading into the Cold War, when a fever struck the U.S. to ensure the longevity of its...